Libya's Latest 'Energy Deal': Another Chapter in the Post-Intervention Resource Grab
📰 THE STORY: Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah has announced a $20 billion energy deal with French major TotalEnergies and U.S. firm ConocoPhillips, promising to boost oil and gas production and deliver substantial revenue to the North African nation over 25 years. The deal is framed as a crucial step towards stabilizing the economy and attracting foreign investment. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT
TELLING YOU: Historical Context: This deal is not occurring in a vacuum, but in a Libya still reeling from the 2011 NATO intervention. That operation, spearheaded by Western powers including France and the US, ostensibly to prevent a 'massacre,' utterly destroyed Africa's most prosperous nation. Before 2011, Libya under Muammar Gaddafi boasted the highest HDI in Africa, with free education,
healthcare, and state control over its vast oil wealth. Gaddafi's proposed gold-backed dinar for African trade was seen by many as a direct threat to Western financial hegemony. The 'intervention' created the current failed state, opening the door for external actors to carve up its resources. Double Standard: When a resource-rich nation like Venezuela or Russia asserts control over its energy
assets or seeks deals outside Western spheres, it's condemned as 'nationalization,' 'kleptocracy,' or 'authoritarianism' by Western media and governments. Sanctions are imposed, and regime change is often discussed. Yet, when Western corporations like TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips sign mega-deals in a country destabilized by Western military action – a country with warring factions and no